About

The SOLE x United By Blue Jasper Wool Eco Chukka is the perfect shoe for the conscious consumer and everyday adventurer. Made from the highest-quality, most sustainable materials, it’s a shoe that puts the environment first without compromising on performance, durability, style or comfort.

For every pair sold, United By Blue will remove 1 pound of trash from the world's oceans and waterways.

The Jasper Wool Eco Chukka is a shoe that does everything you want it to, without costing the earth. It combines the superior comfort of SOLE’s signature supportive shape with barefoot-friendly materials for a shoe that you’ll never want to take off. Its sustainable materials offer versatility and durability so it’s equally at home on forest paths and city streets, and its easy style fits into any setting.

Introducing the chukka's casual cousin, the Jasper Wool Eco Slip-on. Made using the same eco-friendly materials as the chukka, it offers all the same sustainability, quality and durability. It has the same adventure-ready outsole, and the same cushioned comfort. The only difference is the convenient slip-on design, for when you want happy feet in an instant.

Let’s face it, we’ve all got a little lazy in us. Sometimes doing up your laces can be the hardest part of a simple task like taking out the trash on a cold winter night. Not if you don’t have laces.

Long day on the ski slopes? Bending down to lace up can feel like one step too far for your body. Take your feet from cramped to cradled in a heartbeat.

Chasing winter waves? Give your surf session a comfy, snug ending.

Working from home, but have to do the school drop-off and pick-up too? Here’s the perfect pair to wear all day.

Want one of each? Pair the Slip-on with a Chukka for $195 and save $85 off MSRP.

BENEFITS

Flexible, durable, cushioning, lightweight

Exceeds performance of synthetic foams

Recycled and carbon-negative

Free from harmful Restricted Substance List (RSL) materials

FROM BARK TO BOTTLE TO BOOT

THE MOST SUSTAINABLE MATERIAL WE CAN IMAGINE

The ReCORK Recycled Cork Midsole is made entirely from wine corks recycled by businesses and individuals around the USA and Canada. Producing it requires minimal processing, low energy input and less water consumption than synthetics, and extends the lifecycle of an already incredibly sustainable material. Cork is harvested from the bark of cork oak trees in a process that doesn’t require trees to be cut down, but actually increases their lifespan to as long as 300 years, and boosts their CO2 consumption by up to five times.

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BENEFITS

Breathable, temperature-regulating, hypoallergenic

Retains heat when wet

Lightweight and flexible

Saves natural, high-performance fibers from the landfill

FROM FIELD TO FOOTWEAR

THE SUSTAINABLE ALTERNATIVE TO DOWN OR SYNTHETICS

Bison fiber has always been discarded as a byproduct of the ranching industry, but its high-performance properties are too good to waste. Since the fiber is natural and an existing waste resource, BisonShield insulation generates a much smaller environmental footprint than petroleum-based synthetics, and comes without the ethical complications of down insulation.

BENEFITS

FROM WATERWAYS TO COMFORTABLE DAYS

REPLACING PETROLEUM WITH ONE OF EARTH’S FASTEST GROWING ORGANISMS

BLOOM™ harvests algae from harmful algae blooms in natural waterways. They then use this algae biomass to produce foams with 40% less environmental impact, and 35% less energy demand than regular petroleum-based alternatives. Filtered water is returned to waterways, helping return balance to natural ecosystems.

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BENEFITS

Flexible, grippy and durable

Long-wearing and versatile

Multi-environment traction

Natural rubber tree sap replaces petroleum

FROM TREE TO TREAD

EVEN RUBBER HAS A CLEANER VERSION

Natural rubber is made from the sap of carbon-sequestering rubber trees, which can be sustainably harvested for up to 25 years. Natural rubber also requires seven times less energy to produce than synthetic rubbers. Every year 120 million tons of rice husks are produced as a waste product of the rice industry. We divert rice husks from the waste stream to add durability to our natural rubber outsole.

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BENEFITS

Breathable, temperature-regulating, hypo-allergenic

Moisture-wicking, water-repelling and antimicrobial

Comfortable with or without socks

Durable plaited knit

Fully traceable and ethically-sourced

Biodegradable

FROM FREE-RANGE TO FOOTWEAR

HAPPY SHEEP, HAPPY PLANET

Our merino is all ethically sourced to ensure the sheep live a cruelty-free life. Sheep are shorn once a year, regrowing their woolly coats in a naturally sustainable cycle. Processing the fibers takes less energy and produces fewer carbon emissions than synthetic equivalents. Merino is also biodegradable, breaking down to return valuable nutrients to the earth.

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BENEFITS

Up to three times more durable than cotton

Antimicrobial

Superior color retention

Reduced water consumption

Pesticide free

FROM CROPS TO KNOTS

LESS INPUT, LESS IMPACT

Bamboo takes far fewer resources to grow than cotton. It’s naturally resistant to pests and bacteria, so it doesn’t require pesticides which can contaminate soil and waterways. It also requires only a third of the water that cotton needs. An acre of bamboo can yield ten times the crop of an acre of cotton, and the waste from each crop is significantly less.

The Jasper Wool Eco Chukka is a shoe that shows you can have world-class comfort, durability that defeats stress tests, and easy, versatile style, all while relying on natural and sustainable materials.

Your chukka will come with either a black or beige bamboo lace, but if you want to add some flair you can order a red, blue or mustard pair. You can add them onto your pledge by adding an additional $5 per pair of laces, and selecting your color(s) at checkout.

About SOLE

SOLE™ is a Canadian footwear brand, founded in Vancouver in 2001. Their mission is to help people live active, pain-free lives while having the least possible impact on the planet. Their award-winning footbeds are the consumer’s choice for supportive insoles, reducing pain and fatigue in the feet of millions. Building on the success of their footbeds, they launched into footwear that is great for your feet and gentle on the earth. SOLE strongly believe that they have a responsibility to consider the impact their actions have on the environment, which is why they’re blazing a trail for sustainability in footwear. From product design and development, to material sourcing and creation, SOLE is committed to providing quality and comfort that doesn't come at the cost of the planet. In 2008, they launched their cork recycling initiative ReCORK™, which takes natural wine corks and turns them into a carbon-negative raw material that replaces petroleum-based foams and plastics in consumer products. They’ve recycled 100 million corks to date, and they’re just getting started. Learn more about what they do and how they do it at yoursole.com

About United By Blue

United By Blue is a sustainable outdoor apparel and accessories brand started in 2010 driven by the belief that every living creature is united by the blue of the world's oceans and waterways, and that everyone shares the responsibility to protect them. Their pledge unites their beliefs with their business: For every product sold, they remove one pound of trash from the oceans and waterways through company-organized cleanups. All apparel and accessories are responsibly made using sustainable materials such as organic cotton, recycled polyester, hemp, and bison fiber. United By Blue products can be found in nearly 1000 outlets globally, in their stores in Philadelphia, and online at unitedbyblue.com.

About ReCORK

Launched by SOLE™ in 2008, ReCORK™ is the largest cork recycling program in North America. ReCORK works with thousands of recycling partners across the continent to collect used natural wine corks and turn them into a sustainable alternative to petroleum-based foams and plastics, for use in consumer products. By tapping into this usually under-valued and under-utilized resource, ReCORK is prolonging the life cycle of an already incredibly eco-friendly material.

ReCORK’s entire recycling process is carbon negative, meaning their operations actively remove carbon from the atmosphere. The program does this by using carbon-neutral shipping wherever possible, processing their corks in hydro-powered facilities and planting over 8,000 cork oak trees to date. This year the program will plant a further 10,000 cork oak trees for the benefit of the environment and the cork industry as a whole.

To date ReCORK has collected 100 million corks, but there’s still a huge amount of work left to be done. With the equivalent of 30 billion bottles of wine consumed globally every year, tons of natural cork still ends up in landfills. ReCORK aims to change that, recycling as much cork as they can to make a big impact for the health of the planet. Learn more at recork.com

This project is promoted by Jellop, the ad tech power behind the best Kickstarters with 650+ successful Kickstarter projects with over $300MM raised between them.

Risks and challenges

Sole has been making footwear accessories for almost 20 years and United By Blue has been in the industry for 10 years. We have long lasting relationships with our manufacturing partners and boots on the ground in the factory that will assure the project stays on track.

We feel confident that we can deliver your rewards on time and we have used our previous Kickstarter experience to plan this campaign as well as possible. Of course, unforeseen circumstances can cause delays, but we strive to be as transparent as possible. If for some reason we fall behind or run into issues that we have not planned for, the Kickstarter community will be the first to know!

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge US$ 195 or more
About US$ 195

Mix+Match Backers: 1 Pair of Each Style

Be the first to own the world's most eco-friendly shoes in two styles, for any setting.
-Includes one Pair of Slip-ons AND 1 Pair of Chukkas
-Mix & Match sizes and colors at campaign end
-save $85 off MSRP
-2 lbs of trash removed from oceans and waterways
+FREE extra set of shoelaces ($5 value)